Claydon House
Claydon House in Buckinghamshire contains some of the best examples of interior decoration in the rococo architectural style of the 18th century. Such was the extravagance of the designer Luke Lightfoot that the family in residence went bankrupt paying for it. The house is now run by the National Trust.
There has been a manor house on the site for over 1,000 years. At one time in the 15th century it belonged to the Lord Mayor of London. Since 1620 it has been the ancestral home of the Verney family, who, through marriage, still live in the house today. It is said the ghost of Sir Edmund Verney, a royalist soldier killed in the English Civil War in 1642, still haunts the grounds. The original house was then rebuilt by Ralph Verney in the Georgian period and then reduced in size by his niece Mary who inherited it in 1792.
Highlights include the North Hall, Saloon and the Chinese Room, with its extravaganza of pagodas, temples and oriental motifs in the style known as Chinoiserie. The library was commissioned by Lady Verney in 1860. Lady Verney’s sister was the nursing pioneer Florence Nightingale and there is a small museum dedicated to her here.